Halloween bentos galore!

30 Oct 2009 by maki

I haven’t had any time to make a Halloween themed bento this year, since I’m still working on the recipes for my book. But many talented bentoists in the Just Bento flickr pool have been busy making some really scary-cute bentos! It just goes to show that, contrary to some misplaced assumptions, it’s not just Japanese moms that can get very creative with bentos. Here are a few that caught my eye.

This bento by gamene makes great use of themed stickers and the rather weird color of purple broccoli for that spooky look. Check out the detail of the carved ‘pumpkin’ mini-pepper!

This one by Bunches and Bits has a spider-web (made of cut nori) covered sandwich, and a big, scary spider with a meatball body. It also uses a themed sticker creatively.

mirdreams makes great use of the autumnal colors of sweet pepper and tomatoes, with Jack-o-lantern faces of course! The egg white faces are nice and ghostly.

MandLmom makes a slightly overtoasted English muffin look like a bug-eyed mummy. The jicama ghosts are ghoulishly semi-transparent, which is a great touch.

I’m not quite sure what that monster climbing out of Judy’s Notebook’s bento is, but it’s scary, as are the baleful owls. The milk bottle is a mystery to ponder.

And last but not least, check out this Jack-o-lantern bento by the always talented sherimiya.

I really like the direction that many non-Japanese charaben artists are taking, as seen in these photos. Instead of relying on colored molded rice, sausages or fish products and thin omelettes (usuyaki tamago) as most Japanese charabens do, they are using the natural, vibrant colors and textures of vegetables and fruit very creatively. Kudos to you all!

And however you choose to celebrate it, have a great Halloween and/or All Hallow’s Day!

haha, it usually occurs to me the day of or day after that I should make a Halloween Bento!
This year I forgot to make a halloween bento, but I did make a Halloween-themed dessert for my office at the last minute ^_^

I didn't make a Halloween bento, but I did spend a lot of time looking through the Halloween bentos on Flickr. They were all very impressive! As a new bento-er, my bentos are all kind of ugly. I hope I can get as neat and creative as these other bento-ers to make my bentos look as awesome as those above and the others in the Flickr pool.

I wish I had thought to make some attempt at making a Halloween bento. I was still pretty happy with my thai pumpkin curry (nice and fall themed), and while quite yummy it definitely was not as pretty as all the bentos above.

How nice to be included. (I did "the French Toast dead tree that looks like a monster with the owls" bento.) When I first entered into bento-ing this summer, I found your site and explored it like a mad women. I live in cowboy country and the closest thing to a bento box out here may be a picnic basket. I wanted something more my size, so I waited for the box from Japan to arrive and studied your recipes and tips. I'm glad to hear you're working on a book. I have learned so much from Just Bento.